A hard rains (not) gonna fall....

Well, what a disappointment! The horrible snow and ice storm they were promising us didn't really materialise. There was a tiny dusting of snow, and the rain was falling mostly as rain, rather than as freezing rain. There was a great number of phone calls to discuss the weather, the road situation etc. I got my first from Col at 6:15 asking if I had been able to see what the roads were like, then again at about 7:00 saying he was going to brave work, then another at about 7:30 to say the roads were pretty much fine. There had been a 30-car pileup somewhere in Maryland, so they must have had the worst of it...all we had was a hard time getting the car door open because of the ice that had formed from the freezing rain during the night!

Our car totally iced up with freezing rain

Stephen and I have both been to the hairdressers. I have gone for a slightly more extreme version of my usual style. I was going to go the full Posh, until my hairdresser said it would involve undercutting...as much as I love her, I don't think I trust her enough yet to do anything too complicated!! Maybe next time....

My little jaunt took up most of Saturday morning, then it was home to finish the laundry and get the packing done. I never seem to manage the whole capsule wardrobe thing, so it was something of a challenge to pack clothes which could do double duty and which go with more than one item of clothing....Kinda managed it, and got everything into a pretty teeny case. I thought I was doing great until I saw the case Stephen packed! He packed for a week into an overnight case!!! I don't know how the heck he managed it!!!

The flight was pretty uneventful. We both slept pretty much all the way. We had been up fairly late the previous evening as we had been out to dinner with Hils and Paul to a new restaurant called Bookbinders. The food was delicious, the wine was excellent - we had a great time and, as ever with Paul and Hils, a great laugh. The late night helped with the sleep thing. We were both zonked the whole flight! We got back to Leigh Sinton at around 10:30. Mum had bacon butties and tea ready. De-lic-ious!!!

We viewed the house next door this afternoon. It has been rented out for years, and we had always had half a mind to buy it if it came on the market. However, the owner wants a ridiculous amount of money for it given the condition that it's in. It needs to be gutted - new kitchen, bathroom, windows, carpets...lots of cash just to get it into a state to be rented again. More if we were to look at doing some structural alterations. Its maybe just not a good time for us to be taking on a major project...difficult enough to get workmen on a project when you're nearby...I bet its bloomin' impossible from a distance!

We're just back from stuffing ourselves with Indian food. God it was good! We did the works...poppadoms, chutney, onion bhajis, chicken jalfrezi....MmmmmmmMmmmmmmm.

Snow's a falling...

I've packed away my shorts and t-shirts for another few days. It snowed yesterday and we are expecting bad weather tonight. Around 2-3 inches of snow is due to fall overnight, followed by freezing rain until around late afternoon. What a fantastic combination that sounds, doesn't it? There is a winter storm warning, and we've been told to expect potential traffic chaos and power outages!!! Actually power outages are quite common in weather - it doesn't have to be extreme! Sun, wind, rain, snow...all have the potential to knock the power off. Something to do with all the overhead power cables.

I came home from work prepared to work from home (sorry - I mean telecommute) tomorrow. Our office follows the Federal government office openings, so if they say their offices are on a delayed start or are closed, so is ours. There is a text alert service, so I'll know pretty early on what the situation is. At the last minute (thanks to the potential weather chaos) I was also running around trying to get stuff together for my trip to the UK next week. That's right - I'm coming back for a week! I'm looking forward to seeing you all...and maybe having a nice bacon butty and a curry or two!!

President's Day

There could not have been a bigger contrast between last Monday's weather and today. Last Monday was -10C and windy, today was +22C and sunny!!! People were out in shorts, Tshirts and flip flops!

We were shocked when we opened the door and stepped outside this morning. It didn't look particularly warm when we first headed out (the sun came out shortly after), but it was - and humid too (a little reminder of what summer is like!). We dropped by the local coffee shop and decided to change our plans for the day.

We were expecting cold, so had planned a day of sitting by the fire and then popping along to watch the President's Day parade, followed by more sitting by the fire. As it was lovely, but we couldn't decide where to go, we headed down to Ikea to replace the downstairs rug which has come out rather battlescarred from being in front of the fireplace. We got home around 11:30 to discover that some sod had parked his Jaguar in the Residents Only parking outside our neighbours house...but had parked so badly that he also took up a few feet of our space too. They got a note, in which I pointed out the slightly selfish nature of their actions! Parking is at a premium on Parade days, and we would normally leave something in the space to stop people parking in our slot...but because we impulsively decided to head off we hadn't bothered this time. D'Oh!

The parade was slightly random!! There were a few people dressed as George Washington and his cronies, a few re-enactment groups, fire engines, police, cubs and brownies, llamas decked in the American flag....yes, you read right - Llamas!!! As I said - totally random!!! We watched for an hour, but that was as much excitement as we could take. We wandered homeward via Safeway...and not a moment too soon, as the rain started just as we got to the store.

Photos to follow when I have downloaded them...

The Awakening

After lunch in Bugsy's Pizza, and a brief panic because Lyle couldn't find his mobile (which meant the car was packed and then unpacked, the cases unpacked and packed, and the house torn apart) we headed off to the airport. Once we had dropped everyone off (and filled the car with gas as we were running on fumes) we dropped into Tysons Galleria. Why has no-one mentioned how fabulous this place is to me? It is a mall which is chocca full of designer shops to salivate in! It has Chanel and Versace and the like...VERY nice to wander around, even if the prices aren't very pocket friendly!!

We dropped into Paul and Hils in the evening. Poor Hils has the lurgy and so wasn't up to coming out. We had a chat (and a gossip update) whilst she was propped up in bed, looking rather wan. The flu thing that is going round is rather horrid (as I know only too well) so bed was definitely the best place for Hils to be. We dragged Paul out for Thai food (well a man has to eat!) as we were craving something a little spicy.

We were up early on Sunday. There is a statue that you see on many of the photographers stalls in places like Eastern Market. Its called the Awakening and is of a giant emerging from the ground. It is usually depicted when its snowing, and looked really interesting. I happened to catch on the radio the other day, that it is being moved from Hains Point to somewhere in Prince George's county this week, so we thought that we should make an effort to go and see it. Unfortuntely, so did around half the population of DC! We had dropped in at Starbucks en-route, so we got there shortly before 10am...at the same time as two, count them, TWO coaches full of school kids!! There were so many people there that you could barely see the statue, let alone take artistic photos of it!! Thankfully the kids seemed to be on an intensive tour, so they were shipped out after 20 minutes, which just left the 400 families with small children. We did manage to glower at enough children to snatch a few shots of the various pieces when there weren't toddlers posing for Mommy and Daddy on them!

Stephen hadn't seen the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial, so we headed there next. Do you want to guess who had got there before us? Yup....two bus loads of teenagers!! My heart sank, but thankfully we arrived towards the end of their alloted 20 minutes there. When its not overrun by people its a very moving sight. We were a little blue with cold after this, so after a brief interlude at Home Depot buying gardening tools we headed home for a heat.

Pat and Jude had us round for dinner last night. Hils was still feeling poorly so missed out again. Dins was delicious! Roast chicken, roast potatoes and blackberry and apple crumble for dessert. Scrummy!!!!! it was the first roast dinner we've had since we arrived here. We usually do something on a Sunday, so the tradition of making Sunday roast disappeared. I must re-instate it as an occassional treat - I had forgotten how delicious it could be!

The Awakening. A scultpure of a giant emerging from the ground.

The two coachloads of kids who arrived at the same time we did.




The Hand

The Comedy shot!!

The Iwo Jima memorial

In close up.

Photos of Skyline and Old Town

Some photos of the last few days of June, John and Lyle's visit.

Lyle in front of a frozen waterfall on Skyline Drive

No-one had actually mentioned the frozen waterfalls to me! Aren't they fab!

Enjoying the sunshine at the Marina on Saturday.

Loading the car...then unloading the car and unpacking the cases
looking for Lyle's mobile phone!

The Great Bacon Exchange

We have bacon!! Proper British (well, actually Irish) back bacon....AND black pudding! Truly we are in heaven!! We'll be able to have a bacon butty tomorrow - I even have HP sauce, so it will be perfect!!!! We found out a couple of weeks ago that the Embassy has a shop...and I have a friend in the Embassy!! In exchange for bags of Cadbury's Mini Eggs and Heat magazine transported from the UK by Stephen, she popped down and bought us bacon. What a star!!! It comes frozen, so Stephen was despatched to buy a cool box and freezer packs on Thursday in preparation for the exchange. Her boss was going to the same meeting as Stephen on Friday, so they made an exchange in the car park beforehand. This probably looked very odd to passers-by...someone handing over packets of bacon and a ring of black pudding and receiving an envelope in exchange!! I am SO looking forward to my first proper bacon butty in 8 months. I only hope it lives up to expectations!!!

Our visitors leave this afternoon, and seem to have had a good time. Everyone trooped off to Skyline Drive on Thursday, then onto Fredericksburg (or rather to the shopping malls at Fredericksburg!). There were lots of "Bambi" on show at Skyline, and the winter views were apparently pretty special. The boys enjoyed the mall at F'burg as they found the Guitar Centre, so spent some time in there! They didn't get home until around 9pm, so I imposed on Colin and made him run me home.

He ran me home on Friday too. It's Presidents Day weekend this weekend, and the office was incredibly quiet, so I pleaded with our President and he declared we could all knock off early. Three Cheers for Paul!! Colin was so happy with me, he would probably have driven to California if I had asked!! It was a lovely afternoon yesterday - the weather was fantastic!! When Stephen got back from his meeting we took a walk into Old Town and had a look round the Torpedo Factory Arts Centre, then went for a drink. Our guests took the car and went from some retail therapy and another McDonalds for Lyle. We walked home, collected everyone and walked back along to Chadwicks for dinner. And lo, sitting at the table behind us were Paul and Hils!!

Stephen and John headed to the jazz bar after dinner, and June, Lyle and I headed home. We had barely gone 20 feet before June tripped up and fell. Thankfully, due to the number of layers of jumpers and jackets she didn't break the skin, just banged her elbow. What a pair we are! Me flat on my back and June flat on her face, all within a couple of days.

June and I had a nice morning just wandering about the shops in Old Town. The boys went off to the Guitar Centre at Falls Church. We all met up at the marina in Old Town - June and I had been to Starbucks and were sitting down there in the sunshine. It was lovely in the sunshine - just a little chilly out of it!

Freezing rain

We have now experienced our first freezing rain since we've been in Washington...and it was loads of fun! I was blissfully unaware as I was sitting in the office, that it was even raining let alone freezing rain. It wasn't until Stephen called me to say that he was going to be delayed picking me up, and said that there was freezing rain that I realised that there was anything going on. It took us about an hour to get home. And we were definitely the lucky ones! ALL of the major highways around Washington were closed by multiple major accidents. All of the bridges and intersections were freezing and there was absolutely no grip. We were glad to have a car with all-wheel drive! Some people were stuck for over 8 hours in their cars.

This particular weather type means that our visitors have now experienced (since arriving on Friday): warm and sunny, arctic cold and sunny, wind, rain and freezing rain. The only thing they have missed is snow...and they are forecasting that for tonight!

In the style of Arctic explorers everywhere we decided to walk to the restaurant (I know - pretty insane!!). We were doing good - the pavements were actually okay (they must impregnate the concrete with salt or something) when I spied a puddle, so Stephen's mum walked to one side, and I walked to the other onto the brick paving....which was absolutely slick with ice!!! I always said I was like Bambi on ice, but I can no longer say that as Bambi managed to keep his footing after a lot of sliding about!! I was straight down in true "You've been framed" fashion...flat on my back, no time to flail my arms about to try and regain my balance - just straight down! I am rather stiff and sore today!

Our visitors have been busy since they arrived. They were at Baltimore on Sunday, into DC and Pentagon Mall on Monday (in freezing termperatures - with wind chill it was around -10C, lots of scarves and hats required!), Potomac Mills on Wednesday and the Air and Space Museum at Dulles today.

It just looks cold! The Capitol building.

Pentagon Mall

Lyle all wrapped up

Our visitors are in here - can you spot them?

Rocks and retail therapy

Stephen arrived back from the UK on Friday, along with his Mum, brother and nephew, so we currently have a houseful! Everyone was a bit tired on Friday, and June wasn't feeling so good after the flight and cab ride, so she went to bed and the rest of us popped along to Chadwicks for a bite to eat, then it was back and off to bed.

In a classic jet-lag way, everyone was awake at the crack of dawn, so after an early breakfast we headed off on the grand tour. We did a quick drive about Old Town, then headed up the Parkway to Gravelly Point for some plane spotting - a favourite with everyone!! After that we took a run upto Great Falls...and truly this time it was "Great"! The first visit was a trickle, the second was more of a gush, this was definitely a torrent! I guess they are getting snow melt now which is swelling the flow of water.

Retail therapy and the chance of filling our tummy's beckoned, so we headed over to Tysons Mall. I got a lovely jumper ("golf" style again - I swear I wouldn't have been seen dead in that 6 months ago!) which was reduced in the sale to $7. As we are heading into Sping/Summer fashions all the winter stuff is vastly reduced - despite the fact that it is forecast to be rather chilly this week!!! Good for us consumers!! We then headed over to Potomac Yards in an attempt to find golf shoes, so we really did "DO" retail therapy yesterday!!

We went along to the Union St Bar and Grill for dinner, did some light souvenier shopping and wandered back home.

June, me and Lyle

John, Lyle and Stephen

Great Falls - looking truly great this time!

Oops! I did it again...

Okay...well this being the week of forgetfullness, today I forgot to wake up!

My alarm didn't go off (I don't know why, because it was set!), and I woke up just around 7am. My first thought was "&%$#...it's light....ohmigod what time is it??". Then I leapt out of bed and into the shower....I obviously made up a LOT of time becuase I was in work only 15 minutes or so later than I would normally be, and was still the first person in the office!!! However the feeling of having to catch up never left me all day...it was a busy day anyway and my multitasking skills were being pushed to the limit. I was hoping to get out of there around 1pm, but that was so not happening!! I eventually ran away about 3pm in order to get home and finish the housework before Stephen and his mum, brother and nephew arrived for their visit.

Last night, I forgot to come home! I didn't get out of the office until around 6:30pm which made it an 11 hour day!! I was packed up and ready to go and then I realised that I hadn't sent an e-mail to someone in the UK that needed to be sent on Thursday giving updates on something I've been doing....so out came the laptop again... Need to stop having so many of those kinds of days! It was month end, so it is always a manic week, but still....!

We did have an amusing interlude (its not all work - we have some play in the office!). Paul started by saying that he had been in the lift in the morning with "this person"... and wanting confirmation of his suspicions. It turns out that he has now seen the "bloke in a dress". For those of you who watch Ugly Betty - this is definitely no Alexis!!

Now, where did I put my...?

I seem to be having a "senior" week. It started on Monday when I got up, had a shower, put my nightie in the wastebin (and have absolutely no recollection of doing so!), got dressed and ready, forgot to switch off the heat in the bedroom, remembered to put out the trash but forgot to pick up my work pass...I got to work, and discovered I couldn't get in!! I was the first person there and I had to wait a few minutes for someone to turn up.... This morning I forgot to switch off my magic light up make-up mirror....I forget what I forgot yesterday!!

I am going to have to part with a pair of my shoes. They have developed a squeak!! I was walking around today and it sounded like I had a little mouse on my foot. It was getting quite annoying, not to mention embarrassing!! Of course, this does mean that I'll need to go shoe shopping in order to replace them. Okay, so maybe need is the wrong word...but I will be going shoe shopping to replace them!!

Stephen is in the UK (eating curry and bacon sandwiches) and I haven't been sleeping so well (as usual) and have been having very strange dreams. I think it might be down to the lack of alcohol, because I've not been eating cheese before bedtime!

Spring is in the air

I don't know what the heck Punxsutawney Phil is talking about! It has been like a gorgeous spring day today...temperatures have been about 20C! To be fair to the giant rodent, the temperature is to drop towards the weekend, but I'm enjoying not having to go out dressed like Nanook of the North!!!

Groundhog Day

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil came out of his burrow, saw his shadow and proclaimed 6 more weeks of winter.

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!
On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.
After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers, Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:
"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

Of the 12 Groundhogs in the USA who predict the weather only 3 are saying 6 more weeks of winter...but Punxsutawney Phil is the daddy of groundhogs, and is apparently never wrong! No early spring for us...

Wrinkle, wrinkle little star...

Its Saturday evening and I'm sitting cosied up in front of a lovely roaring log fire. Stephen is now in the air en-route back to Blighty for a week long visit, so I'm going to grab a book (I have restocked!) and stick on my ipod and have a relaxing night with my feet up. It was a busy day... Stephen omitted to tell me that he needed jeans and jumpers washed for his trip until this morning, so I've spent most of the day running up and down four storeys cycling them through the washer and dryer. The jumper was his thickest, cosiest jumper and took flaming hours to dry!!! Hours of running up and down stairs.... anyway, if it keeps my little sweetie cosy then it was worth it (sounds good doesn't it - if only I truly believed!)

And all this running about whilst being a sleepy girl...we didn't get to bed until 2am last night, so I wasn't feeling my perkiest this morning! Must stop burning the candle at both ends...it definitely caught up with me today! All these late nights are obviously taking their toll...Tim from the office thought I was 45!! Must buy a more heavy duty wrinkle cream...or perhaps polyfiller! Mind you he is around 12, and probably anyone over 30 is unspeakably ancient to him!!

Amanda and Owen (the previous Ops Director and her hubby) were passing through Washington yesterday, so we met up with them, along with Dawn, Paul and Paul. We had dinner in Chadwicks, then drinks in O'Connells. Amanda, Owen and Dawn headed off at this point and the rest of us headed to 219 King (the Weekend Office) for drinks and jazz. The band were pretty good - a little more avant garde than usual perhaps, but that didn't stop us staying til gone midnight! Stephen was taking a ribbing for his choice of weak and watery girlyman lager, so Paul B thrust his fresh glass at Stephen and said "Try that". Stephen tried it, screwed up his face and commented on its horrid taste... "Its real mans beer" was the confident response...until Paul tried it, screwed up his face and pronounced it to have a horrid taste!!! Turns outs that it was whatever the beer equivalent of corked is. Stephen was allowed his five minutes of gloating!

There was much hilarity, especially when I mentioned Tim's little faux pas over my age. Paul B look aghast and said "and he's still alive?" and Paul W jumped in with "yes, but he's passing his teeth tomorrow". I think I added a few laughter lines to my tally over the evening!!

Stephen decided that he was going to have another beer when we got home, which seemed like a good idea, but it meant that we were cosied in on the sofa, chatting away, not noticing how late it was! It was nearly 2am before we really noticed the time. Oops!! I can feel another wrinkle forming....

Tim got to check out my wrinkles close up on Wednesday night. We bought tickets to see the Dancing with the Stars live show. Its the US equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing, and y'all know how much I loved that show!! I've only seen one series of DWTS, so a lot of the celebrities listed as being on the tour were people I'd never heard of. In the end it didn't matter, as only about 4 celebrities appeared! They must rotate them round to accommodate schedules. We got to see Marie Osmond, Joey Lawrence (no, I hadn't heard of him either, but he was quite buff!) and Drew Lachey (who is Jessica Simpson's ex-husbands brother). Wayne Newton "Mr Las Vegas" was singing. He was dancing on the series I saw. He's about 65 and was not the greatest dancer....turns out that he's no longer the greatest singer either!!!! It was kinda painful to listen too, but that didn't stop one of the fans seated around the dancefloor from playing tonsil tennis with him when he was making his way round the audience!!! Eeeeeuuuuuuuugghhhhhhhhhh!

Aside from the bad singing and the snogging, the show was really good! Jude, Tim and I all really enjoyed it. I only wish I could shake my tailfeathers in such an way! Perhaps I can persuade Stephen to take lessons with me.....Oh look, is that a pig I see flying past....!! After the show Jude and I walked around trying to find a taxi to take us back to the office where we were parked. It was the coldest 20 minutes I've experienced in a while! It was a really warm day when I left the house in the morning - warm enough that I thought a big coat would be stifling, and that my wool jacket would be plenty warm enough. By the time we got out after the show it was flippin' freezing!! And not a taxi in sight! We walked to a road we could see taxis on, and despite them having lights on, not one was available. We were getting nearer to a hotel, and at the point when I was going to get them to order one for us, a taxi drew up who was dropping someone off. We were exceedingly glad to see him!! Stephen had been at a dinner in a restaurant in the building next to the office, so I called him to see if he wanted a lift home. Turns out he was still at the bar with Paul W, so they ordered me a drink whilst I escorted Jude back down to her car, then I popped up to join them. Another late night! Another wrinkle!!

It gave me a chance to get my hands on a package that was delivered by diplomatic courier, so to speak! It was Embassy people that Stephen and Paul had been having dinner with. I get on really well with the Embassy chaps PA, and when I spoke to her earlier in the day she was munching on Cadburys Mini Eggs...so we had a good old reminisce about British chocolate and how fantastic it was. The sweetheart had then parcelled me up half a dozen little eggs and sent them over with her boss!!!

It is Superbowl Sunday tomorrow and the whole of America is going to be at a party watching it. Rudy is throwing a party and invited the office, but it seems to be only the guys who are going, and as Stephen is away I didn't really fancy it. I'm not overly fussed about watching football, (although the adverts are supposed to be something) and the half time show is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers....so everyone is praying there are NO "Wardrobe Malfunctions" this year!!! The Paul's were trying to persuade me to go...using the following highly persuasive arguements: 1) they would give me a lift (in the trunk of Paul's 2 seater) 2) they needed a waitress to get them drinks so they wouldn't miss a minute of the game or the adverts 3) scrap number 1 - actually I could drive....Needless to say, I managed to resist their tempting offers!!!! Rudy was standing listening to this in slack-jawed amazement! I think he was fully expecting me to thump them instead of making a joke!! Obviously our British sense of humour is sometimes truly unfathomable...